FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 169-the First Mailbag Issue
Homebuilder Series Webinar: Protecting Your Company From Misrepresentation Claims Through Contractual Exculpatory Clauses
Last year, we reviewed proxy statements filed by companies in the Silicon Valley 150 (SV150) to see whether they included an officer exculpation proposal in their proxy statements for stockholder meetings held from August 1,...more
In August 2022, the Delaware General Assembly amended the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) to allow corporations to adopt charter provisions exculpating certain officers from personal liability for monetary damages...more
Seed investments in hedge funds, private equity funds, private credit funds, and other investment vehicles continued to generate significant deal volume in 2023, according to the tenth annual Seward & Kissel Seed Transactions...more
In re Fox Corporation/Snap Inc. Section 242 Litigation, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that corporations do not need to seek votes from each separate stockholder class to approve charter amendments exculpating corporate...more
Key Takeaways: As noted in our previous Legal Update, the August 2022 amendments to Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL) permits a Delaware corporation to include an officer exculpation provision...more
Delaware’s Supreme Court unanimously rejected challenges by stockholders of two corporations who argued the respective companies invalidly adopted exculpatory charter provisions without giving each class of stock a separate...more
xIn Jewels by Iroff, Inc. v. Securitas Tech. Corp., No. 1:23-CV-556-TWT, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 172391, a Georgia federal court addressed a suit against a security/alarm company arising from a break-in at a jewelry store where...more
Folks sign contracts of all types that purport to contain limitations of liability; but are they enforceable. In many cases, the answer is “yes”. “In the absence of a contravening public policy, exculpatory provisions...more
Exculpation clauses limiting the liability of certain entities for actions taken in connection with a bankruptcy case are a common feature of chapter 11 plans. However, courts disagree over the permitted scope of such...more
A claim for breach of the duty of oversight is known as a Caremark claim, after the landmark Delaware Court of Chancery decision in In re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation (1996). Since then, Delaware courts...more
On March 22, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint in US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Justin Sun, the owner of BitTorrent, Inc., a file-sharing platform; three...more
Since 1986, Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”) has allowed corporations to include an exculpation provision in their certificate of incorporation that eliminates or limits the personal...more
On December 19, 2022, Chief Justice Seitz issued an opinion for a unanimous Delaware Supreme Court, sitting en banc, reversing and remanding the Delaware Court of Chancery’s decision in Bandera Master Fund LP v. Boardwalk...more
Effective August 1, 2022, Delaware amended its General Corporation Law (the "DGCL") to permit the certificate of incorporation of a Delaware corporation to provide for exculpation of officers from liability to the corporation...more
Last summer, Delaware amended Section 102(b)(7) to permit the exculpation of certain officers for direct (but not derivative) stockholder suits for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty...more
Delaware has long permitted corporations to limit or eliminate monetary liability of directors from breach of fiduciary duty of care lawsuits. However, the same protections have not been afforded to a corporation’s officers....more
As discussed in part one of this series, a Joint Operating Agreement’s (JOA) exculpatory clause relieves the designated “operator” from liability for certain conduct or activities. But, as explained by the Texas Supreme Court...more
Key Takeaways ..Newly amended DGCL Section 102(b)(7) allows Delaware corporations to provide officers with exculpatory protections for personal monetary damages resulting from a breach of fiduciary duty in certain...more
Non-operators under the 1989 Model Form JOA have been hoping to drive a stake through the dark heart of Reeder v. Wood County Energy, LLC. Bachtell Enterprises, LLC v. Ankor E&P Holdings Corp might be a start. The question...more
A number of lawsuits have percolated through New York’s courts over the past five years between Adam Max, son of world-renowned visual artist Peter Max, and Adam’s sister, Libra, over control and management of the family...more
As we transition into spring, the minds of many corporate attorneys return to the annual updates proposed to the Delaware General Corporate Law (DGCL). If the changes proposed by the Council of Corporation Law Section of the...more
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan recently reminded us why Delaware choice-of-law provisions are so popular in limited partnership and other agreements. In an adversary proceeding, Judge David S. Jones held that...more
This presentation will address the various issues that arise when a trustee enters into a self-interested transaction with the trust. Among other issues, it will address the duty of loyalty, the presumption of unfairness,...more
Judge Colleen McMahon recently opined in Purdue1 that “the lower courts desperately need a clear answer” as to the validity of third-party releases. On January 13, 2022, the United States District Court for the Eastern...more
It is common that accountants seek to limit their liability to a client in the event of malpractice. Typically, in the retention agreement, the liability is limited to the amount of fees paid by the client to the accounting...more